Partisan Politics and Cycling: Bill Favoring Cyclists Killed on Party-Line Vote

As reported in the last issue of Arizona Road Cycling News, the Arizona Legislature's House Bill 2479, which would have permitted cyclists to treat stops signs as if they were yield signs, was voted down by the House's Military and Public Affairs (MAPS) Committee. What I didn't notice at the time was that voting was along straight party lines. Every Democrat on the committee voted to approve the bill, and every Republican voted to kill it.

Voting against the measure were Ray Barnes (rbarnes@azleg.gov), Sam Crump (scrump@azleg.gov), Carl Seel (cseel@azleg.gov), David Gowan (dgowan@azleg.gov), and Jerry Weiers (jpweiers@azleg.gov), all Republicans. Voting in favor were the committee's three Democrats: Patricia Fleming (pfleming@azleg.gov), Barbara McGuire (bmcguire@azleg.gov), and Daniel Patterson (dpatterson@azleg.gov).

Perhaps the political party that has taken a stand against this cycling bill doesn't think that its constituents ride bikes. In case some of our readers would like to correct this impression, I've included the E-mail addresses of all of the committee members who voted on this bill. You may also to forward this article to your cycling friends who may also wish to E-mail, call or write the people's representatives in the Arizona Legislature. There is nothing that motivates politicians as much as knowing that voters are watching them and care about the decisions they make.
This article is also posted online at www.azroadcyclist.com.

Legislative Committee Votes Down Cyclist Bill

This morning, March 4, 2009, the Committee on Military Affairs and Public Safety held a hearing on House Bill 2470, the bill that would give bicyclists the right to treat yield signs as if they were stop signs. As reported in today's issue of Arizona Road Cyclist News (www.azroadcyclist.com), the bill failed to pass the committee by a vote of three in favor and five against. Voting for this bill were Representatives Barbara McGuire, Daniel Patterson, and Patricia Fleming. Voting against were Ray Barnes, David Gowan, Sam Crump, Jerry Weers, and Car Steel. You can access the bill's Web site by clicking here.